Alpha Protocol Reviews

Our return from the three-day weekend is met with quite a few new reviews for Obsidian’s Alpha Protocol, starting with a score of 3/5 from Giant Bomb:

If you decide to play Alpha Protocol, just know that your main enemies over the course of its 15-or-so hours will be its collection of misery-inducing technical issues and the clash between its action and role-playing elements. There are parts of Alpha Protocol that I feel are totally amazing and absolutely worth seeing, but you’ll have to trudge through a lot of very disappointing stuff just to see it.

Hooked Gamers gives it an 8.5/10:

If anything, Alpha Protocol may be a little short, especially for an RPG. But that’s a minor point, especially since this is a game you will want to play over and over again given the very strong writing and the myriad of different scenarios. When Obsidian Entertainment claimed, “Your weapon is choice,” they weren’t kidding.

Gamer Limit gives it a 6.5/10:

It could have been a lot worse, but for all its worth, the game simply doesn’t deliver enough of an experience to keep the player wanting more. A dull experience rife with technical flaws and badly-combined mechanics.

Guardian gives it a 2/5:

The most frustrating thing about Alpha Protocol is that there clearly is a decent game hidden away here. Choosing a specialisation for your agent and customising him with individual skills and looks is as gnawingly compulsive as in most RPGs. Possibly even more so here, given the real-world setting. But a general lack of visual polish, coupled with clunky gameplay mechanics, means Alpha Protocol is a missed opportunity.

Xbox360Achievements.org gives it a 70/100:

Buried beneath the poor shooter mechanics, Alpha Protocol does exactly what it says on the box, and that’s make choice your weapon. With a great dialogue mechanic and more choice than your local Tesco megastore, the title is ultimately letdown in everywhere but these disciplines. A title that true RPG aficionados may treasure, but everyone else best steer clear. A cult hit if ever there was one, and one that I truly enjoyed.

News10.net gives it a “C”:

It’s unfortunate that the control and even graphics don’t live up to this game’s potential. You may want to rent Alpha Protocol, to see if these shortcomings don’t sabotage your experience as a spy.

GameShard gives it a 6.0/10:

Obsidian has opted to license the Unreal engine for Alpha Protocol, again following in Mass Effect’s footsteps, but apparently they chose to use a much older build, if the angular environments, smudged textures and stiff characters are anything to go by. The animations are especially terrible; Thorton moves like he’s had a stroke, enemies stumble and die with comically feeble death animations, and although the lip-synching in dialogue scenes is pretty accurate, the character’s faces are rigid and dead-eyed. Even the usually impressive lighting of the engine is absent, abandoned in favour of over-saturated oranges, greens and blues, ostensibly to add atmosphere to the locations available but mainly ending up ugly and overpowering. The soundtrack is typically forgettable, and whilst there are some decent performances from the cast the voice acting mainly comes across as flat and bland.

Dealspwn gives it a 7/10:

Occasionally dodgy graphics and crappy gun battles can be infuriating, but the stealth gameplay makes up for it if you put the effort in. The game really shines with the adaptable missions, conversational input and light RPG character elements.

Hardcore Gamer gives it a 4/5:

Despite these flaws, Alpha Protocol is still a fun and entertaining experience with a dynamic storyline and solid RPG mechanics. The open branching pathways and options ensure for multiple playthroughs and the action is varied enough so you won’t find yourself bored. In the end, Alpha Protocol will sneak into the hearts of players all around the world with its immersive DSS feature and colorful cast of characters. It may feel like a hybrid of the Splinter Cell and Mass Effect series, but it meshes the best aspects of both to create a brand new promising entity.

And Gaming Union gives it a 6/10:

For all its faults Alpha Protocol features one of the best dialogue systems seen in an RPG for a long time. It helps to keep things extremely fresh and certainly makes the whole story-aspect of the game feel much more engaging. However, for all the good this brings, Alpha Protocol is severely let down by the game’s other major aspect, the gameplay. It really is one of those games where you’re left thinking, what if? Alpha Protocol surely didn’t necessarily plan out how Obsidian wanted it to, but there were some amazing ideas present amongst all the bad ones. Hopefully they’ll be able to make a sequel and really sort out those areas, because the concept has some serious potential if done correctly.